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<section article="gcj" article_name="Courts and Judicial Proceedings" number="7-504" title_number="7" title_name="Costs, Fines, and Forfeitures" subtitle_number="5" subtitle_name="Fines and Forfeitures">
  <level label="a">
    <text>A defendant who is unable to pay a fine ordered by a court may apply to the court for a reduction of the fine.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="b">
    <text>If a defendant fails or is unable to pay a fine as ordered by a court, the court may investigate the reasons for the failure or inability to pay the fine, including the defendant’s financial and family situation and whether nonpayment of the fine is contumacious or is due to indigence.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="c">
    <text>After an investigation that a court considers necessary as to the reasons for the failure or inability to pay a fine, the court:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>May order that the individual be committed to a correctional facility;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>May reduce the fine to an amount that the court determines the defendant is able to pay; or</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>Subject to subsection (d) of this section, may direct that the individual be imprisoned until payment of:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>The fine; or</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>Part of the fine that is undischarged after a pro rata credit for time served instead of payment.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="d">
    <level label="1">
      <text>Subject to the limitations in this subsection, the court shall determine the period of imprisonment for default in payment of a fine.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>The period of imprisonment may not exceed:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>1 day for each $10 of the fine; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>If the fine was imposed for a crime subject to punishment by imprisonment, one-third of the maximum term authorized by the statute or ordinance under which the individual was convicted, or 90 days, whichever is less; or</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>If the fine was imposed for a crime that is not subject to punishment by imprisonment, absent default in payment of a fine, 15 days.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>The period of imprisonment, when added to the original sentence, may not exceed the maximum term of imprisonment allowed for the crime.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="4">
      <text>Each period of imprisonment imposed because of nonpayment of two or more fines shall run concurrently unless the court specifies that the periods of imprisonment shall run consecutively.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
</section>
